In the month leading up to Election Day, the number of letters
to the editor sent in to The Dispatch increases. When it comes to
local races, I enjoy reading the views of my neighbors. When it
comes to presidential politics, I just don’t see the point.
In the month leading up to Election Day, the number of letters to the editor sent in to The Dispatch increases. When it comes to local races, I enjoy reading the views of my neighbors. When it comes to presidential politics, I just don’t see the point.
The recent letter alerting Catholics not to vote for John Kerry is just the kind of letter I abhor. It offends me as a Catholic person, and as a Democrat. That letter writer can rest assured that the four or so people in Gilroy whose number one issue is embryonic stem cell research were never in the Kerry camp anyway. No minds were changed by reading his diatribe, but his message was received loud and clear. Someone from Gilroy has reminded us that he is the judge of who is and who isn’t a good Catholic. Thanks for sharing.
We are now less than four weeks from Election Day, and it boggles my mind that anyone could still be undecided about who they favor for president. The fact that the media focuses so much attention on the supposedly “undecided” voters really bothers me. The latest televised debate was a forum that rewarded indecisive people by allowing them access to the two major candidates. More than half of the questions asked by the audience led me to believe that these people were no more undecided than me – they were just being disingenuous. I would guess that there are actually very few people in the country who are truly undecided.
When it comes to local races, I think many people are still undecided. For Gilroy School Board, there are six candidates vying for three seats. Most people I know are sure that they are voting for one or two of the candidates.
This is where I am; certain to vote for two of the candidates and still deciding who will get my third vote for school board. This is why the local candidate forums are so important to watch. I attended one forum so far.
Unfortunately, the Dolores Huerta forum was very poorly planned. There were 10 candidates present running for five different offices. The logistics of having two working microphones passed among the moderator, the candidates, the translator and the audience members proved very distracting. There was little time allowed for candidates to respond, and the questions were few and far between, some of them were such no-brainers that they didn’t warrant asking.
It might have been exciting for a candidate to state that they didn’t want all the schools to be proficient, or that they opposed allowing non-citizens to get a drivers license. The Community of Conscience is an ambitious project, and I expect that the group will improve on this initial effort and be better prepared next time.
I will be attending the remaining two school board forums. The Dispatch will profile all the candidates and I will be reading carefully. By next week, I will have made up my mind as to who will best serve the families of Gilroy. Two of the incumbents have gotten my vote in the past, but the incumbents don’t have anything notable to run on this year. Touting the hiring of Superintendent Edwin Diaz is old already, and can’t be the cornerstone of a run for office. To these incumbents I offer up two simple questions to think about.
What proactive changes have you made of your own initiative? How are Gilroy students and families better off than they were four years ago?
I have said in the past that nothing is more important to me than having parent representation on the Board. This year, two parents are running for school board.
Both of these parents start out from a position of strength. The sad little truth is that Bob Heisey and Rhoda Bress while acting merely as constituents are more directly responsible for positive changes which have taken place in this district than any of the incumbents.
